11/21/24
October 26, 2009
Yankees, Phillies Meet Again in World Series: When the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies meet Wednesday in game one of the World Series, it will mark the second time the storied franchises have faced each other in the Fall Classic. In 1950, the Yankees were led by Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio and Whitey Ford, while the Phillies had Richie Ashburn, Robin Roberts and the "Whiz Kids." The Yanks won the first three games by one run and went on to sweep the series. One month before they played, Phillies' 17-game winner Curt Simmons was called up to military service in Korea.
Thanks rcade. Old farts like me love those old 1950's films.
posted by pullmyfinger at 12:21 PM on October 26, 2009
Can the Army call up one of the Phillies pitching stars just to make the parallels more complete?
posted by billsaysthis at 12:44 PM on October 26, 2009
During an August 17, 1957 game, Ashburn hit a foul ball into the stands that struck spectator Alice Roth, wife of Philadelphia Bulletin sports editor Earl Roth, breaking her nose. When play resumed, Ashburn fouled off another ball that struck Roth while she was being carried off in a stretcher.[2] Ashburn and Roth would maintain a friendship for many years and her son later served as a Phillies batboy.
Copied from Wikipedia, but I remember it well.
One oft-told story is that on short flies to center or left-center, center fielder Ashburn would collide with shortstop Elio Chacn. Chacn, from Venezuela, spoke little English and had difficulty understanding when Ashburn was calling him off the ball. To remedy matters, someone in the Mets organization taught Ashburn to say "Yo la tengo," Spanish for "I've got it." When Ashburn first used this phrase, it worked fine, keeping Chacn from running into him. But then left fielder Frank Thomas, who didn't speak a word of Spanish, slammed into Ashburn. After getting up, Thomas asked Ashburn "What the heck is a Yellow Tango?"
Also from Wikipedia. Well, that's the last of my favorite Richie Ashburn stories. I'd have copied the one about the woman in the stands that took a shot at Ashburn the day after he announced his engagement. However, I can't seem to find any reference of it to copy - so I won't mention it.
posted by pullmyfinger at 12:46 PM on October 26, 2009
Cheer! The Yankees are about to make the World Series relevant again after five long years of other pointless cities playing!
posted by Skot at 02:55 PM on October 26, 2009
The Yankees are about to make the World Series relevant again after five long years of other pointless cities playing!
Stoopid non-NY cities.
posted by THX-1138 at 04:14 PM on October 26, 2009
This looks like an Indians fan's dream, with out the against each other. Here's the new news, if Manny Acta wins manager of the year they're going to trade him to the top team for four minor league prospects also.
posted by jojomfd1 at 12:18 PM on October 27, 2009
I think the Phillies have a fighters chance. The problem with the Yankees is that their lineup is so devastating from top to bottom. And with CC pitching 3 games a series, they're pitching is solid, and Rivera is closing the ninth.
So a team can't survive on just pitching, or hitting, and the angels didn't have enough of either. Their hitting wasn't consistent enough (if you're shut down by todays Andy Pettitte you deserve to lose), and their pitching wasn't deep enough. The Yankees are going to kill mediocre pitching.
And yet still the Angels had a chance but decided to play like the bad news bears in the last game.
The Phillies don't have New York's lineup, but they can score runs. And unlike the Angels, I don't think they're intimidated at all. So the question to me is do they have enough pitching. They're depending on pedro in game 2, and he could throw a masterpiece, but his selection alone says no. But maybe they get to CC, and Pedro is old Pedro, and...
At the very least, I hope they make the Yankees earn it.
Two more WS links:
Now, I certainly wouldn't argue the Phillies don't have a chance this year, because each of the effects were even more pronounced last year and the Phillies won the World Series, 4-1, over the Tampa Bay Rays. But it still looks, at least on paper, that whoever wins the A.L. should be a heavy favorite over whoever wins the N.L. even without considering the 10-game difference in games won for these particular A.L. and N.L. teams.
But maybe the Yankees win and maybe Microsoft wins and maybe the rest of us will have the put up with yet another round of insufferable arrogance from the fat billionaire blowhard that runs, well, either one. Yes, ultimately, it comes down to what happens on the field, in the competition, and there's enough lumbering muscle on both bullies to walk away with another round of lunch money. But for anybody with any heart, there's nothing better than watching Goliath go down.
posted by justgary at 06:15 PM on October 27, 2009
If the Yankees win, does Kevin Cash get a ring?